The Reading Agency will be announcing their book list on 13 December for 2018 World Book Night on 23 April. We will be applying for books to cover our two sites at Parkshot in Richmond and Hillcroft in Surbiton.

We’ve been running reading groups again this autumn term for our students with Kingston University monthly for more confident readers (The Real Book Club) and Fridays weekly for less confident readers (Hillcroft Bookateers).

We’re encouraging students to sign up for Reading Ahead through our Learning Resources team to read six items and review them in the diary. To boost the choice of material we’re in the process of refreshing our graded readers. Particularly those with audio content. Find out what’s freshly arrived on the New area of our catalogue

In addition 6 new Quick Reads are set to hit the shelves on 1 February 2018. So we will order these in shortly. Their authors include Fern Britton, Dorothy Koomson, Mark Billingham, Kit de Waal, Tammy Cohen and Vaseem Khan. The books look at friendship, secrets and lies, marriage and what happens when you lose your mobile phone!

In the mean time we’ve given the Quick Reads area of the Learning Resources Centre a bit of festive spirit in the photo above!

Over the summer Jisc published our case study on digital skills development at Hillcroft College in their Case Studies: Journeys Towards Digital Capability. The report also explains how we’ve been developing digital skills with students and teaching staff.

As a student you will have either experienced the Learning Resources Centre (LRC) team bringing in iPads or Kindles into the classroom or taken part in our information skills workshops where we teach you how to search for material on the catalogue, use ebooks, reference using the Citation Machine and about copyright and plagiarism. Read our case study Hillcroft College. Small is (Digitally) Beautiful.

As Digital & Learning Resources Manager introducing students to the Class OneNote Notebook I’ve found it really takes over from using an interactive whiteboard. Students and I have been impressed by the dyslexia-friendly Immersive Reader with its read aloud feature which also gives you the chance to change the font size and style and colour. We’ve all really liked the collaboration space which we’ve used in Introduction to Pre Access to share work we’ve done in pairs and groups creating Harvard references.

What’s also really useful is the ability to send material from the content library out into students’ individual note books and all of the tagging features so I can set up things for students to do that they can then tick off once complete. Here’s an example of the checklist

and another of showing the different tags you can add to make it easier to guide the student through material

Hillcroft has merged with Richmond Adult Community College and we have two LRCs, one at each college location.

This means we can help more learners and staff than ever before. We are in the process of getting to know the new sites and new ways of working. We’re also very fortunate to have two public libraries just down the road.

If you need resources or help with digital skills we’re a good first port of call. Please bear with us as we are learning the ropes.

We’re glad to have started the new academic term. Welcome to all the new students and those arriving soon. You’ll have the chance to meet the LRC team and get introduced to the resources we have here over the coming weeks.

If you’re itching to find out more about the LRC before and after your inductions, there are two sets of activities on the VLE to help you improve your information and digital skills.

Once you’re logged in to the VLE then click on the library and learning resources block and click enroll me on this course.

Another place to look for tips and tricks about electronic books, Office365 and more, have a look at our Padlet page #LRCdigitips.

This month was Hillcroft College’s Student Celebration and Achievement Day. It was a special day in many ways. First and foremost, it was a chance to recognise the effort and success of all our students.

This year we were pleased to award many students LRC certificates for completing and participating in reading groups and challenges. 4 students completed the Reading Ahead challenge, having read 6 books or other items. 23 students attended one or more reading groups. We appreciate finding time to work on skills and interests outside of class time is difficult. We hope you enjoyed the extra support with digital and reading skills. Well done!

It was also the official occasion when the LRC unveiled its new name and dedicated plaque to a former student. More details to follow soon.

The stress guides help you handle problems with friends, family, eating, exams, bullying, cyber bullying and social media. As well as issues with drugs, alcohol and self-harming. If you are not a student at Hillcroft College. You can find copies from this collection in your local public library.

24 June to 9 July is the London Pride Festival. We’ve posted on our Virtual Learning Environment the listing of events running around the capital during the festival. Some are ticketed and priced whereas others are free. The festival culminates in the Pride Parade on Saturday 8 July which starts north of Oxford Circus at 1300 and ends in Whitehall around 1630. There is music in Trafalgar Square after the event.

if you miss the parade or you would like to celebrate further then Sunday 9 July offers Pride in the Park organised with UK Black Pride in Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. This event includes a dog show, baking competition, stalls, music, speakers and a chance to drag up in the drag booth. Discover the stage running order on the Pride in the Park Schedule.

The National Theatre are doing a number of reading sessions to map in with the festival. Details here on their tweet.

Channel 4 has launched a season of programmes to mark 50 years since the 1967 Sexual Offences Act (decriminalising sex between men in private over the age of 21) called 50 Shades of Gay. Take a look at the YouTube trailer. The season started with Britain’s Great Gay Buildings which you can catch up with on 4oD. Watch Monday 3 July 50 Shades of Gay at 2200 where the actor Rupert Everett looks at how the 1967 Act changed gay life in England and Wales. If you missed Britain’s Great Gay Buildings you can catch up on All 4. All 4 has also brought together the best of their LGBT programmes and films for to watch at your leisure in their Pride Collection.